Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-08
CHAPTER XVII.
SILAS is CONVINCED.

At first Bessie was utterly Frustrated by
the blow that bad fallen on her, but as time
went on she revived little for hers was a
sanguine nature with II great deal of elias
ITCHY about it. Troubles sink int the souls
of some like water into sponge, and weigh
them down almost to the grave From others
they run off as the water would if poured
upon marble, merely wettng the surface.
She was neither the one nor the other of
these, but rather of a substance between the
two--a healthy, happy hearted woman, fun
of beauty and Vigor, made to bloom in the
sunshine not to languish in the Shallow of
some old ElIcf. Women of her stamp do not
die of broken hearts or condemn themselves
to lifelong celibacy as a sacrifice to the shade
of the departed If No. is unfortunately re-
moved, they, as a general rule, shed many
tear and suffer many a pang, AMI after Il
decent interval very sensibly turn their at
tention to No. 2
Still it was a very pale faced, quiet Bessie
who went to and fro about the place
after the visit of the one eyed Kaffir
All her irritablity had left her now
she no longer jumped down her uncles
throat about his having dispatched John
to Pretoria. Indeed, on that very even
ing after the evil tidings came, he began to
reproach himself bitterly in her presence for
having sent her lover away, when she stopped
him
at is Gods will, uncle" she said quietly.
"You only did what it was ordained that you
should do And then she came and laid her
sunny head upon the old mans shoulder and
cried a little, and said that they two were all
alone 10 the world now; and he comforted
her in the best fashion he could 1t was O
,.iO that how Of tlar,,
thought much of Jess when they talked thus
about being alone. jess was an enigma a
thing apart even from them. When
she was there she was loved and al
lowed to go her own way; when she was
not there she seemed to fade into
outer darkness. A wall came down between
her and her belongings. OF course they We're
both very fond of her, but simple natured
people are apt to shrink invounlarily from
what they cannot understand, and these two
were no exception. For instance, Bessies
affection for her sister was poor thing COM
pared to the deep and self sacrificing, though
often secret love that her sister showered
upon her She loved her old uncle far more
dearly than she did jess, and it must be
owned that he returned the compliment with
interest and in those days of heavy trouble
they drew nearer to each other even than be-
fore
But as time went on they both began to
hope again. No further news of Johns death
reached them. Was it not possible, after all,
that the whole story was an invention! They
knew that Frank Muller was not man to
hesitate at lie if he had a purpose to gain,
and they could guess in this what the
purpose was. His furious passion for Bessie
was no secret to either of them, and it
struck them as at least possible that the tale
of Johns death might have been invented to
forward it. 1t was not probable, more es-
pecially as he was not present to urge his suit
but it was possible, and however cruel sus
pense may be, it is at least less absolutely
crushing than the dead weight of certainty.
On Sunday-it was just a week after the
letter came-Bessie was sitting after dinner
on the veranda, when her quick ears caught
what she took to be the booming of heavy
guns far away on the Drakensberg. She
rose, and, leaving the house, climbed the hill
behind it, On reaching the top she stooC
and looked at the great solemn stretch Of
mountains. Away, a little TO her right wa!
a square, precipitous peak called Majuba
which was generally clothed in clouds. To
day, however, there was no mist, and i
seemed to her that it was from the direction
of this peak that the faint rolling sounds
came floating on the breeze. But che coulC
see nothing; the mountain seemed as tenant
less and devoid of life as the day when it frs
lowered up upon the face Of things created
Presently the sound died away, AMI she re
turned. thinking that she must have been de